Married couples less stressed than singletons

MARRIED couples had another reason to celebrate their love after researchers found that having a long-term romantic bond makes you more relaxed.

NewsCoreAugust 19, 201011:11pm

MARRIED couples had another reason to celebrate their love after researchers found that having a long-term romantic bond makes you more relaxed.

Scientists at Chicago University tested 500 master's degree students, half of whom were married, and found that single participants became more stressed than those with partners.

The business students were given economic tests they believed were part of their course and would affect their future career prospects.

While all subjects experienced higher than normal levels of the stress hormone cortisol, saliva samples showed that single individuals produced higher levels than test subjects who were married or in long-term relationships.

“These results suggest that single and unpaired individuals are more responsive to psychological stress than married individuals, a finding consistent with a growing body of evidence showing that marriage and social support can buffer against stress,” said Dario Maestripieri, a professor in comparative human development and the lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Stress.

He added, “Although marriage can be pretty stressful, it should make it easier for people to handle other stressors in their lives.

"What we found is that marriage has a dampening effect on cortisol responses to psychological stress, and that is very new."